The European Union: A Regional Political Laboratory for Co-existence of Multiple Civilisations and Implementation of Social Policies/Sustainable Development?

By analysing the european integration experience, this paper tries to find answers for the following two major questions. for how long do we have to take the collectivist identities (national, cultural, religious or civilisational) as the main unit of analysis in international relations? are post-national/civilisational/cultural/religious legitimacy formations nothing but mere utopias? as the european union is the most developed regional political and economic integration movement at hand, the analysis of its successes and failures can give important hints on the probable formation of such governance models (inclusive of multiple civilisations and capable of providing distributive justice). in this context, this paper will argue that in the short-run the eu can be considered as a regional political laboratory for co-existence of multiple civilisations and implementation of sustainable development backed by social policies.